Here's an old chicken-and-the-egg question:
Which came first: Windows or Wallpaper?

Remember Windows 3.1 and how much fun it was to play with the backgrounds and change the wallpaper into almost anything you wanted?

And remember the ever-popular Desktop Themes that came along about the same time as Windows 95?

Well, have you ever wondered: Who makes those things?

Me neither, until the other day, when I was surfing the Internet (I know; I need to get out more often!).

I stumbled across a World Wide Web site, called http://www.originallook.com, that featured desktop themes, animation, daily wallpaper and electronic greeting cards.

I decided to check further into the desktop themes, and boy, was I impressed with the quality! These weren't your ordinary desktop themes. These seem to have taken some time to do and do correctly.

Themes with titles such as: Coca-Cola Ladies, Chili Peppers, Mint Julep, Penny Saved, Chocolate Hearts, Say it with Roses, Evening in Paris, Coffee Break, Fiesta.

Crayons, Angel Wings, Calico Chickens, State Fair, Red Silk Tie, Coffee & Cigars, 4th of July, Wicker & Wickets, Watermelon, Happy Birthday.

Everyone of them beautifully done. And I also noticed they had been done by the same person, a person known as Themestress.

What also caught my eye was the State Fair theme, which just so happened to feature the State Fair of Oklahoma.

Which got me to thinking (I don't often think original thoughts, so it was a red-letter day for me): I wonder who Themestress is and is she (presumably) from Oklahoma originally.

So, I e-mailed Ms. Themestress, telling her I was impressed by her work and wondered if she indeed was from Oklahoma.

She was kind enough to answer and to let me grill her with several questions. It turns out her name is Jackie Winters. And, yes, she is an Okie.

Question: First of all, tell us a little about yourself.

Themestress: I am a Baby Boomer; native Oklahoman; married; mother of one; grandmother of one; graduate of Northwest Classen (High School) in 1966; 2 1/2 years at Central State University; majored in art.

Question: How did you get interested in Desktop Themes?

Themestress: Let's see, first all, long ago, I was pretty fascinated with the wallpaper you could use with Windows 3.1 and the ability to edit your screen appearance to make it more colorful and cheerful.

When Windows 95 came along, I fell in love with Desktop Themes that came with the MS Plus! software.

I had done the self-taught method of learning Corel Draw and Corel Photo Paint and also learned some graphic artwork from some small shareware packages and began to design a few themes for my own amusement.

I began collecting graphic art and fonts and then learned to make and edit icons and animated cursors. Then I bought a scanner and began learning how to edit photographic images.

Then I discovered the Internet, Web pages and the ability to collect themes designed by other authors.

During this stage, I found three favorite theme sites and kept up with their work very studiously. I liked the idea of knowing what kind of theme to expect from a particular author and not being disappointed when it was installed.

Question: And one of those sites was originallook.com?

Themestress: After a while, I had become familiar with Sunchyne at Original Look and corresponded with her several times.

Just before Valentine's Day this past February, I read a notice on the "What's New" page at Original Look Themes, and they were wanting visitors who were interested to submit themes with the prospect of having it posted on their pages.

I finally got my courage up and sent two themes I thought might be presentable, Sunchyne wrote back, said she loved them, did I have any others and a whole relationship sprang from nowhere.

Question: By the way, Original Look Themes is based in Meridian, Idaho, and is the creation of Gene (known as Sir Red) and Valerie (Sunchyne) Babbitt. I suppose you enjoy working with them.

Themestress: (They are) two very talented artists and sharing individuals. Their aim has been to offer high quality, distinctive and totally original desktop themes.

This means that all the elements of the theme (wallpaper, icons, animated cursors, sounds) are original and not the work of any other graphic artists. This is like the unbreakable rule as far as our work is concerned.

Question: This type of work looks like fun, but it sure doesn't look easy to do. Is that true?

Themestress: The most difficult thing for me to learn has been designing animated cursors. But because I have been gently coerced (with an iron hand) to make original ones, I can see a vast improvement since my first attempts.

You would not believe how difficult it is to make a salt shaker that looks shaken, rather than exploding or sneezing!

I get e-mail from people all over the world and have been asked several times where I get my ideas. Part of this is very secret (sort of like the Colonel Sanders chicken recipe) and the other part is intuition. I just keep my eyes open and get images from a multitude of sources.

Question: What makes Original Look, uh, original?

Themestress: You will find that there are a lot of desktop theme Web pages out there, but they will be collections of work by other people. There are very few Web sites where large numbers of original work are found, and, just like in any other field, there is always a demand for really good work.

We have recently added a section for customized themes where people can have a personal design created by one of us. Could be a wedding, a grandchild, a vacation, favorite pet, anything at all, where the client furnishes family photos and we create a theme from those.

We have a few other money-making ideas still under discussion and will eventually give them a try. Right at this time, we are not making money, but we hope someday we will.

In the meantime, just creating the themes and getting fan mail from people across the map has been payment enough for me. This kind of work is very rewarding in its own way.

Chuck Davis is an assistant news editor at The Oklahoman. You can contact him by e-mail at cdavis@oklahoman.net or by regular mail at The Oklahoman, PO Box 25125, Oklahoma City, 73125."